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House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will be breaking bread today with Syrian dictator Bashar Assad – after blowing off White House criticism of her trip.

Pelosi says she has “great hope” that she and her Democratic delegation can personally restart U.S.-Syrian dialogue and get Assad to change his behavior.

You know, things like allowing 90 percent of Iranian-based suicide bombers in Iraq to enter that country through its border with Syria, or funneling arms to the terrorists of Hezbollah, or assassinating Lebanese politicians who object to Syria’s domination of their country.

Good luck to her.

Unfortunately, the sad reality is that Pelosi is sending Assad the same message she and her Democratic colleagues in Congress have sent the terrorist insurgency in Iraq: Just wait until President Bush leaves office and a Democratic administration will hand you what you want on a platter.

All of which, as the White House noted, plays right into Assad’s hands: “It sends the wrong message to have high-level U.S. officials going there to have photo opportunities that Assad then exploits,” said spokeswoman Dana Perrino.

Just as the message Pelosi is sending with her social visit is completely at odds with the one President Bush is trying to send about Syria’s behavior.

Pelosi actually chided the White House for not objecting to the visit to Damascus on Sunday by three GOP House members. “I didn’t hear the White House speaking out about that,” she whined.

Actually, the White House did just that: “We ask that people not go on these trips,” said spokeswoman Perrino. “We discourage it. Full stop.”

Besides, even Pelosi must understand that there’s a huge difference between three regular legislators calling on Assad and the Speaker of the House – arguably the highest-ranking Democrat in Congress – doing so.

As such, she is seen as the representative of the president’s political opposition – one that desperately seeks to undercut and reverse his foreign policy.

More than two centuries ago, Congress passed the Logan Act, which forbids private citizens from negotiating with foreign governments. As an elected official, Pelosi isn’t restrained by the law – but its meaning is clear.

Negotiating with world leaders – particularly those at odds with the United States – should be left to the president, or those authorized by him to do so.